Door-check



. (No ModeL) 2SheetsSheet 1.

L. O. NORTON.

DOOR CHECK. N0. Z51,790. Patented Jan. 3,1882

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(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. I

L. o. NORTON.

DOOR CHECK. No. 251.190. Patentd Jan.'3,1882

)4 1 7/17, asses, 77a '00 755 0 A. T UNI ED STATES PATENT ()FFICE;

LEWIS'O. NORTON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE NORTON DOOR CHECK AND SPRING COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

DOOR-CHECK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 251,790, datedJanuary 3, 1882. Application filedJu'ne25, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, LEWIS (J. NORTON, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Door-Ohecks,of which the following is a specification.

My improvement relates to that form of doorcheck in which compressed airis used to cash ion a piston which moves with the door as it closes, and by means of whichthe motion of the door is controlled.

It is ordinarily desirable that a door shall close with rapidity, but shall not slam. Hence when a door-check of the kindabove referred I 5 to is to be used it will operate more satisfactorily when so applied to the door and its jamb that the greatest resistance of air is offered to the piston just as the door is about to latch,

the door being allowed to swing with comparative freedom until that instant.

My present invention is intended to accomplish that result; and it consists, chiefly, in the combination, with a door and its jamb, of a door-check of the kind above-mentioned, by

meansof certain connecting and operating mechanism, fully described below, all so arranged together that when the door is being closed at a constant rate of speed there will be a material increase in the rapidity with which the piston is driven home as the door nears the jamb, and consequently the resisting or cushioning power ofthe air in the cylinder in frontof the piston will not materially aifect the motion of the piston until the piston has been driven nearly home and the door is about to strike the jamb. p

It also consists of certain combinations of mechanism, below described, best adapted for attaining this desired result. The door-check which I prefer to .use in these combinations, and which is shown in the drawings, is that shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States No.228,776, granted to me June Mypresentinvention will be understood by reference to the drawings, in which Figurelshowsadoor-check ofthe kind above referred to attached to the hinge side of a door and itsjainb in the best way known to me for 5 carrying out the main portion of my invention.

.be understood from what is said below.

Fig. 2 is a view in perspective of the device shown in Fig. 1 detached from thedoor. Fig.

3 shows a detail of construction. Figs. 4 and 5 show a modification for use upon the side of a door opposite to the hinge side, and Figs. 6, 7, and 8 are diagrams described below.

A is the cylinder, in which works a piston attached to one end ofa piston-rod, B. To the other end of the piston-rod is pivoted,'at h, an arm, 0, which, in the device shown in Figs. 1, 6c 2, 6, 7, and 8, is providedwith a bracket-piece,

0, adapted to be screwed to the door, as shown in Fig. 1, and to allow the arm to stand at any required angle with the door. For reasons given below the end of the arm O which is attached to the piston-rod is best made, in this form of my device, of the shape of a disk cast in one piece with the rest of the arm and arranged with respect to the rest of the arm, as shown at H.

There is pivoted to the disk H, at h, a rod, D, which is curved at one end, as shown, and is hinged at its'other end to the hinge-plate E, which is also hinged to the cap a of the cylinder A. The purpose of this guide-rod D is to control the length and direction of the pistonstroke, and its pivot h acts as a fulcrnmupon which the arm 0 turns, and which is necessary for the proper working of the device, as will The hinge-plate E is for the purpose of securing the door-check in place upon the jamb or door, as below described. r

The device shown in Figs. 1 and 20f the drawings is designed to be used upon the hinge side of a left-hand door, so-called. To attach it properly I find a point upon the edge of the door-jamb distant from the hinge-edge ot'the doora littleless-say about halt'an inchthan the length of the cylinder added to the 0 length of the piston-stroke. When the cylinder is of'thc usual length (about seven inches) this distance is'about nine inches. I then place the cylinder upon theja-mb so that the hinge e rests upon the point so formed, and the guide- 5 rod D is toward the hinge-edge of the door, and. screw the device in place, (using the hingeplate E,) so that the doorin swinging will just clear the cylinder and hinge-plate. The bracket 0 is then screwed to the door so that the arm IQO will be immediately'uuder the cylinder and parallel with it.

The operation of the device will be understood by reference to Figs. 6, 7, and 8, which show respectively the position of the device when the door F is closed, when it stands at an angle of ninety degrees with the jamb G, and when it is thrown open wide. In Fig. 6, as the door is closed, it is hidden by the jamb G, and hence cannot be indicated by any letter. The direction of the force which is first applied to the device by the opening of the door is at substantially right angles to the jamb, and if the door did not swing on hinges the distance which the piston would be drawn out by this force would equal the distance traversed by the doorin this direction but as the position of the bracket 0 (at which point the force is applied to the arm by the door) alters with reference to the hinge-plate E during the swing of the door the arm will be caused to turn on this bracket 0 and the pivots h h, and to constantly throw the end of the piston-rod toward the doorjamb. The cylinder will be turned by this actionot' the arm upon the hinge e, and kept at nearly right angles to the door until the door stands at right angles to thejamb, when the cylinder will lie nearly parallel with the jamb and the arm nearly parallel with the door, as shown in Fig.

7. It will be seen that as the position of thebracket 0 changes with reference to thehingeplate E during the opening of the door the force which draws out the piston and is applied from the door, through the arm and bracketc, to the piston-rod acts with less and less leverage upon the piston-rod, and consequently the piston will be drawn out aless and less distance in proportion to the distance traversed by the door as it opens until, when the door stands at right angles to the jamb, this force will be substantially expended. After the door has passed this point, still opening, the angle between the cylinder and the arm of course becomes greater. The piston will be drawn out but little farther, however, (far enough only to allow a change in the positions of the pivots ,h h, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8 of the drawings,) so that the force of the spring within the door-check, applied through the piston and piston-rod, may surely act upon the arm and cause it to turn on the pivot h and close the door, when required so to do, the leverage acquired by the use of these two pivots being sufficient to do away with any fear of a deadpoint.

When the door closes the operations above described will be reversed. The force acting to close the door will move the check but slightly until the door is at right angles to the jamb; but after that point is passed the nearer the door approaches the jamb the more directly this force will act upon the piston, and the I110- tion of the piston will be increased greatly in proportion to the rapidity of the motion of the door asthe door nears thejamb. Consequently the air in front of the piston in the cylinder will be compressed more and more, until finally the piston is cushioned and the door prevented from slamming.

The device shown in Fig. 1 is adapted to be used on the hinge side of a door, and as thus arranged, it can only be used upon a left-hand door. It'it is to be used upon a right-hand door, the'same device is adapted for the purpose by simply unscrewing the screw which forms the pivot h and turning the arm 0 through an arc of one hundred and eighty degrees upon the piston and piston-rod B as a pivot, so that the disk H will bear against the other side of the guide-rod D when the guide-rod and arm are screwed together again, this time by means of a screw and the screw-hole lb The device will then be screwed to the door and frame, as described. In any case, when this form of device is used, the guide-rod should be upon the side of the device toward the door-hinge, and the cylinder should be screwed to the doort'rame over the door.

When it is desired to use the device upon the side of the door opposite to the hinge side I make the arm of the form shown in Figs-4 and 5, with the post J pivoted to its outer end.

'l/Vhen this form of device is used the cylinder is screwed to the door, its position in reference to the door-hinge'bein g determined as before. The device must always be so placed that the guide-rod will be upon the side next the doorhinge. The post J, which is'pivoted to the arm 0, as shown, is screwed to the door-jamb above the door, as indicated in Fig. 5, the cylinder and arm being in this case side by side instead of one above the other, as was the case where the other form of device was used.

The operation of the device with reference to the piston-stroke is in this case substantially the same as before described, except that when this device is used the door cannot be opened'through more than, say, one hundred and twenty degrees.

As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the device is adapted to be used upon a left-hand door. If it be desired to use the same device upon a right-hand door, the screw holding the post J in place is removed and the post J attached by the same pivot-hole and screw to the other side of the same end of the arm 0.

The parts of my device are made preferably in brass or iron, and they maybe nickel-plated or ornamented in any other way to suit the taste. The hinge plate is ordinarily made about two inches long from hingeto hinge, the guide-rod about eleven inches 1ong-long enough to reach from its hinge e to the armdisk H, as shown-and the arm 0 about seven inches from its bracket 0 (or post J) to the point where it joins the piston-rod. These dimensions are given for a do0r check of the ordifour screw-holes, arranged as shown, one at h, for attachment to the piston, two others ath and h?, for use in altering the device, so that it may be used on either a left or right hand door, as above described, and the fourth, h for use in cases where a longer stroke of the piston is desired, after the door has passed an angle of ninety degreeswith the jamb, than is usually necessary. To lengthen the stroke the guiderod is pivoted at ]L2 instead of either at It or [L3, and the effect of this alteration will be readily understood by supposing the pivot on which the arm turns in Figs. 7 and 8 to be at It instead of h.

As there is no necessity for altering. the position-of the pivots connecting the arm, guidereferred to, provided with an arm whereby its piston-rod may be operated, a guide-rod whereby the stroke of its. .piston will be, controlled, and suitable devices for attachment of said arm, guide-rod, and door-check to the said door or itsjamb, all connected and operating together substantially as and adapted for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination of the door-check A B, hinge-plate E, guide-rod D, and the arm 0, provided with a suitable device for attaching it to the door or its jamb, all arranged and connected together substantially as above described, and adapted-for the purposes set forth.

3. In a door-check, the combination of the piston-rod B, guide-rod D, and arm 0 with its adjusting-disk H, all substantially as shown and described.

LEWIS o. NORTON.

Witnesses:

HAZARD STEVENS, GEORGE O. G. (Jonas. 

